SortStack #494 — 2027-10-16
By duration · Order from shortest to longest.
- A single blink of the human eye 348 ms
We blink around 15-20 times a minute, and the brain edits out the darkness — you're effectively blind for about 10% of your waking hours.
- The elevator ride up the Burj Khalifa's observation deck 1 min
The lifts climb at around 10 metres per second. Your ears pop on the way to the 124th floor — the building is so tall it has distinct climate zones.
- Alcock and Brown's first nonstop transatlantic flight 16 h
The 1919 crossing ended nose-first in an Irish bog they mistook for a meadow. Brown had climbed onto the wings mid-flight to chip off ice.
- Rio de Janeiro's Carnival, official festival period 5 days
Around two million people hit the streets per day, and the samba school parade is a fierce contest judged on dozens of criteria.
- The Siege of Leningrad in World War II 2.4 years
Through the blockade, scientists at the city's seed bank starved to death rather than eat their collection of edible seeds and potatoes.
- The time since the last woolly mammoths died out 4K years
A dwarf population survived on Wrangel Island until about 2000 BC — meaning mammoths were alive while the Giza pyramids were already centuries old.